This book presents the evolution roadmap of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) and their characteristics since its invention in the 1990s. It discusses the role of RMS in today’s increasingly competitive manufacturing environment and unpredictable markets and the new challenges and opportunities in RMS design and operations in the emerging Industry 4.0/5.0 era. In addition, this book investigates the relationship between reconfigurable manufacturing and smart manufacturing and demonstrates how smart manufacturing techniques can facilitate the design and operations of RMSs. With state-of-the-art research on the development of novel methodologies based on smart manufacturing to guide the design and operations of reconfigurable machines and manufacturing systems, this book is a valuable handbook for reconfigurable manufacturing/smart manufacturing researchers and practitioners. Engineering professionals will find the practical values and managerial insights of smart RMS implementations through case studies.
